A good day to stay in and sew!

Brr.  It's cold and nasty out today, wind and sleet - perfect day for staying and and sewing away! I'm staying warm under a couple layers of quilts today, sewing on some overdue labels again - I can't believe I have 10 more that need them sewn on already.

I print the labels on white fabric, then add a colorful border so they look a little nicer.  Then I pin them on and stitch them while sitting and watching TV with my husband.  Nice to have some hand stitching on a stormy day like today!

Yesterday I managed to finish two more blocks for my Crazy Jane -

I had to applique the center on this one twice.  The first time I accidentally sewed it on with the crosses going the wrong way.  Grrr!

This one was a little easier, and just a touch of applique for the center diamond.  Seems like most of these blocks have applique - I think I skipped those and worked on the pieced ones first, so now I have most of those to do now that I'm near the end...shame on me!

Now I'm off to the sewing room to tackle a couple more blocks.  I hope you are having a pleasant day of stitching, too!

Linking up with Kathy Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

How to Make a Custom Label

I was out of ideas for a post for today, so am re-running an older post from last year. This kind of a label is really easy and quick to make and always looks nice. I also like to use preprinted labels that come in a panel, but can't always find one that looks nice on the quilt I am labeling.
Next week I'll work on my post a little earlier and come up with something inspired by one of my current projects!

I thought I would share a nice looking quilt label that doesn't take a lot of time or work to make. All you need is a square of light fabric to write on, 4-6 inches square, a piece of freezer paper to iron on the back of this, and a few 1" strips to frame your border.

Iron the freezer paper to the back of your light fabric. Then write your label. (I like to use an oversized piece because sometimes I make a mistake and this way I can just flip it over and use the other end to write on!). Write your label with a permanent pen. Pigma markers are awesome, but what I really like to use is a gel pen. They come in so many colors and add a custom touch to your label.

What information to put on your label? The name of the quilt. Your name. The name of the person who quilted it, if not yourself. The date. (I usually just use month and year) I like to add my location. If you are sending it out to shows, it is a good idea to put all contact information on the label. If it is a gift, put the recipient's name and occasion. As you can see, there is a great deal that you can put on the label, so you may want to make it a nice large one! Another great tip is to write the measurements of the quilt. That way you don't have to remeasure it beacause you forgot how big it actually is!

After you have finished writing your label, remove the freezer paper and press the label. Trim to a square, I like to trim about 1/2" outside of the writing to make the label as small as possible (less sewing to do!). Add a 1" strip to each side, press seam allowance toward strip, trim even with top and bottom. Then add a 1" strip to the top and the bottom, press seam allowance toward strips and trim even with sides. Press 1/4 inch under all around this sewn block, then pin to back of quilt and applique down.

A Quick and Easy Quilt Label

I thought I would share a nice looking quilt label that doesn't take a lot of time or work to make. All you need is a square of light fabric to write on, 4-6 inches square, a piece of freezer paper to iron on the back of this, and a few 1" strips to frame your border.

Iron the freezer paper to the back of your light fabric. Then write your label. (I like to use an oversized piece because sometimes I make a mistake and this way I can just flip it over and use the other end to write on!). Write your label with a permanent pen. Pigma markers are awesome, but what I really like to use is a gel pen. They come in so many colors and add a custom touch to your label.

What information to put on your label? The name of the quilt. Your name. The name of the person who quilted it, if not yourself. The date. (I usually just use month and year) I like to add my location. If you are sending it out to shows, it is a good idea to put all contact information on the label. If it is a gift, put the recipient's name and occasion. As you can see, there is a great deal that you can put on the label, so you may want to make it a nice large one! Another great tip is to write the measurements of the quilt. That way you don't have to remeasure it beacause you forgot how big it actually is!

After you have finished writing your label, remove the freezer paper and press the label. Trim to a square, I like to trim about 1/2" outside of the writing to make the label as small as possible (less sewing to do!). Add a 1" strip to each side, press seam allowance toward strip, trim even with top and bottom. Then add a 1" strip to the top and the bottom, press seam allowance toward strips and trim even with sides. Press 1/4 inch under all around this sewn block, then pin to back of quilt and applique down.

See how easy it is to make a cute label for your quilt?  I hope you do label the quilts you make.  Someday, someone will want to know who made it and why, and this might be their only clue!

Have a quilty day!

Don't Forget the Label

This is one of the things that I have a problem with - the added step of adding a label to my quilts. I hate to think of how often I have completed a quilt, then not added this needed information to the back. One of the things that really helps me is to use one of the pre-printed labels that are available to purchase. A 1/2 yard panel gives you a large assortment of attractive labels to adorn your quilt with very little work. The only other thing you need is a permanent archival quality writing pen and a needle and thread to attach it.

A really clever person could think about it ahead of time and actually piece it into the back of the quilt, but I am not that clever, mine are usually just hand appliqued on the lower right corner of the back of the quilt. every once in a while I do get a little clever and add the label before the binding, so I only have to hand sew two sides!!

One hint to make it easier to write on the label is to iron freezer paper onto the back of it. This makes it a little more stable and easy to write on. I like to practice what I want to write on a piece of paper the size of my label, just to make sure everything fits and looks nice. I like to use a pigma pen, or sometimes a medium point gel pen (and I like to use colors!). The minimum information I add is my name, the date, my city, and the name of the quilt. If I'm making a gift label I put the name of the recipient, and the giver if it's been purchased for someone else. I've been known to add a poem, or quotation, or a bible verse, each of these things makes the quilt more personal.

After writing on the label, I attach it to the quilt with pins, trying to get it fairly straight (not always my strong point!). I stitch it down using an applique stitch.

I don't know why it's so hard to do this, it hardly takes any longer than it's taken me to type this post, but it's a very important part of quiltmaking. After all someday, somebody will want to know who made this quilt and why, and what was she thinking when whe used that color of purple?